Fish Tales
by IMTheresa
Summary: Sam wakes up in an unusual place. One-shot.


**Fish Tales**

**Disclaimer**: I'm just playin' with the boys; I won't hurt them. Well, not much, any way. Thanks for Master Kripke for such great characters.

**A/N**: In some interview or another, I read that Ben Edlund has an idea for a script that Kripke keeps turning down. That got me thinking, which, as we all know, is never a good thing. I'm sure Edlund's idea is much better than mine, but this is what I came up with.

oooOOOooo

_Opportunities, many times, are so small that we glimpse them not and yet they are often the seeds of great enterprises. Opportunities are also everywhere and so you must always let your hook be hanging. When you least expect it, a great fish will swim by._

Og Mandino

oooOOOooo

The first thing he became aware of was the extreme headache; the pounding was worse than anything he'd ever experienced before. Even the waking visions he'd been plagued with for a while hadn't made him feel like this.

He realized he was lying down and that was probably a good thing. Sam Winchester slowly moved his hand over where he lay, thinking it felt like grass. Dean must be nearby; probably watching over him and waiting for him to wake up.

But what had happened? The last thing he remembered was him and Dean in a motel room. They hadn't even been working on a job. What could have happened?

Sam had to open his eyes; he had to look around and figure out what was going on. Dean might need his help.

The wave of nausea that washed over him when his eyes opened forced Sam to immediately close them again. He worked to control his breathing and he tried to force the nausea back. After a moment, he slowly opened his eyes again. He didn't move his head, instead staring at the sky above him.

Sam immediately noticed that it was amazingly blue. He couldn't remember ever seeing such a vibrant shade of blue before. Then Sam slowly moved his head, taking in his surroundings. Everything was brighter than it should be; all the colors were more vivid than normal.

_Head injury,_ he thought. Had to be. He didn't feel like he was hurt anywhere else; there were no aches or pains, no numbness. It was just the glaring headache and the too-bright colors. Sam slowly sat up, testing his muscles and hoping to keep the nausea under control. It seemed to take forever, but finally he was up. Realizing there was a tree behind him, he scooted back a little and leaned against it.

Sam continued to look around. He didn't see Dean or the Impala. He didn't even see a road. He was sitting on lush green grass, softer and more dazzling than it should be. A few feet away was a pond; the color of the water was nearly indescribable. It was more than blue, but yet somehow clear. The grass led right up to the edge of the water and a few large rocks were situated around it, almost as if put there intentionally.

Sam couldn't help but think of a fairytale forest. He wouldn't have been surprised to see a unicorn drinking from the water.

"Okay, Sam," he said to himself. "There are no such things as unicorns."

After a few minutes, the pounding in Sam's head eased and once he was fairly certain the nausea had again passed, he carefully got to his feet. The world started to spin, but only a little and just for a few moments. Sam forced down the queasiness and took another look around.

The leaves on the trees were amazing shades of gold and red, but Sam knew that couldn't be right. It was December; three weeks until Christmas. He remembered now….he and Dean had stopped for the night. Sam was researching new jobs for them while Dean watched some dumbass horror movie on one of the two television channels that came in clearly.

So, where was he now and where the hell was Dean?

--

Sam checked his pockets. He had his wallet and the silver money clip that Dean always teased him about, but his cell phone was missing.

_Of course_, Sam thought and looked around. There were no paths or even a place that seemed more traveled than the others. Sam picked a direction – the one with the least butterflies flitting about - and started to walk. He saw that the ground was covered in a blanket of leaves, but his footfalls were nearly silent.

He bent down and picked up a handful of the leaves; they were as brittle as he would expect them to be and he was able to crumble them, but his footsteps remained quiet. Sam was confused, but he had no choice but to keep going. He just hoped he had chosen the right direction….or at least a direction that would lead somewhere helpful.

Sam walked, certain he was headed straight, but yet he arrived back at the pond.

_Oh come on!_ Sam groaned and put his hand on his hips.

He had no idea how much time had passed. He looked up, but the sun seemed to be in the exact same spot in the sky. He sat down on one of the rocks, tired and confused. After a moment he kneeled down in front of the pond and scooped up a handful of water.

"Hey, kid."

Startled, Sam fell backward. He recovered quickly and looked around; he didn't see anyone.

"Kid. Over here."

The voice seemed to be coming from….

"Yeah, in the pond. Settle down; relax."

Sam looked into the pond. There was a….a _fish_ talking to him. This was the most interesting head injury he'd ever had, that's for sure.

"My name's Harvey."

_Oh good, my delusion has a name. Dean's gonna love this._

"I wondered what was taking so long. Most people make it back faster, and you have _much_ longer legs. Did you stop to smell the roses?" Harvey suddenly laughed. "The roses. Heh. That's a good one."

Sam maneuvered into a more comfortable position. His head had started to hurt again and he was afraid he'd end up vomiting if he wasn't careful.

"What's wrong, kid? Ain't you never seen a talking fish before?" Harvey started to laugh again, then calmed down and looked at Sam. "Yeah, all right, probably not. So, what brings you here?"

Sam decided he'd play along. "I don't know. I just woke up here."

"Ah, another one. That's not unusual; most of my visitors don't remember how they get here."

"How do they get out?"

"Get out? You make it sound like a prison."

"Is there a road or –"

"Do you see a road?" Harvey sounded irritated.

"Sorry," Sam found himself saying. "Have you seen anyone else? My brother –"

"Nope, only one visitor at a time." Harvey was back to his previous inviting tone. "Look, if you're thirsty, help yourself. There's plenty of water."

"Uh, no, I'm good. Thanks."

"Suit yourself," Harvey said and almost seemed to shrug. He swam around in circles for a few minutes before settling back across from Sam.

"So, what are you anyway? A trout?"

"A trout?" Harvey snarled at him. "I'm a _bass_."

"Sorry. Look, I need to find my brother. I need to get back to where I belong," Sam said.

"How do you know you don't belong here?"

Sam looked at the fish; his voice was now somewhat icy.

_What if this isn't a dream?_ Sam looked toward the fish. _What if it's….No, that's crazy. This isn't something that a demon would concoct. It's gotta be a delusion; a head injury. But…._

"So, kid," Harvey began. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Being in a motel room with my brother. He was watching a movie and I was on the computer."

"What is it with you humans and your computers? Don't any of you have imagination any more?"

Sam didn't respond.

"Jeez, you spend all your time on those things. Playing games, _Googling…._ Seriously, what do you keep thinking of to look up? You download a lot of porn?"

"What do you know about computers?" Sam found himself asking.

"What? You think just because I'm a fish that I don't know things? You think you're better than me?"

"You're kind of a moody fish, you know that?" Sam was irritated. His head hurt and he wanted his brother. If he was injured, maybe Dean was, too.

"Yeah, well….Okay, you want to get back to where you belong. Fine. You need to take that path over there," Harvey said and slapped a fin on the surface of the water.

"Path?" Sam asked, then looked toward the direction the fish had indicated. He hadn't seen the small opening in the trees before.

"Just stay on the path."

Sam got to his feet slowly. His head was still pounding.

"Thanks," he said and started off.

"Be careful!" Harvey called after him.

--

The colors along the path that Sam walked now were just as brilliant as the ones before. They were almost bright enough to hurt his eyes, but as soon as he thought that, they seemed to fade just a little. A warm breeze floated through the trees and Sam smelled cigarette smoke. He looked in the direction the wind had come from and saw a figure sitting on a fallen log.

"Hey!" Sam called.

The figure turned and Sam saw it was a woman with long blonde hair. She was wearing a sea-foam green dress that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight and it billowed around her despite her seated position. Around her hair was a crown of small white flowers and if he wasn't mistaken, Sam saw a pair of wings that seemed to be made from a soft white gauze.

"Hey, how's it going?" she smiled, then took a drag from a long cigarette. "You just caught me on my break."

"Uh….Sorry?"

She waved a hand. "No worries. So, Harvey sent you this way, I assume?"

Sam nodded.

"Yeah, well, he's playing a little trick on you. He likes to do that," she shook her head. "Stupid fish."

She stood up and carefully snuffed out the cigarette before slipping the filter into a small bag that hung from her waist.

"So, uh, you're a fairy?" Sam asked.

She bowed with a dramatic wave of her hands. "I am."

"What's your name?"

"Rosalie."

Sam thought back to the fish's joke about stopping to smell the roses, but decided not to dwell on it. "Huh. And Harvey sent me this way as a joke?"

"Yup; afraid so. You can't go this way. Just over the hill is Darkland; it's where the ogres and trolls live."

"Of course," Sam put his hands on his hips. "So, which way should I go?"

The fairy shrugged. "Depends on where you want to go."

"Back to where I belong."

She cocked her head curiously. "Not home?"

"I don't really have a home."

"You want to get back to your brother," Rosalie said knowingly.

"What do you know about my brother?"

"Only that you need him; you miss him. Wait, there's something else that I can't quite….You're mourning him. Why? Has your brother died?"

"Not yet," Sam said. "He made a deal to save me and I'm running out of time to find a way out of it for him."

"I see. He made a deal with a Crossroads Demon?"

Sam nodded. "You know about those?"

"In passing," the fairy confirmed. "They don't exist here."

"But trolls and ogres do?"

Rosalie looked annoyed. "What's your point?"

"No point," Sam said and held up his hands in defense.

She smiled. "You'd better get moving. Go back to Harvey and tell him I said to stop being such an ass and tell you the correct way out of the forest."

Sam looked at her, surprised, then turned to go back the way he had come. "Stupid fish," he muttered.

"Sam," Rosalie called.

Sam turned to look at her.

"There's a way to save your brother. Look inside yourself to find it."

--

When Sam got back to the pond, Harvey was floating on the top of the water, his fins behind his head. When he saw Sam, he quickly moved into a more fish-like position with his head just above the surface.

"Hey, you're back."

"I ran into a friend of yours. Rosalie? She said to tell you to stop being an ass and tell me the right way out of the forest."

"She's got quite the mouth on her for a fairy, don't you think?'

"I can't say I'm all that familiar with fairies."

"Not a big antiquer, then?" Harvey asked and then laughed. Sam leveled a stare at him and Harvey cleared his throat. "Hey, I never said I was politically correct."

Sam sat down on one of the rocks and rubbed his head. The headache was coming back and he really wanted to find Dean and then go to sleep for a while.

"You don't look so good," Harvey said. "Don't puke in my pond."

"Just point me in the right direction, okay?" Sam said quietly. "How do I get back to where I belong?"

"Behind you," Harvey said.

"No crap this time?"

"Would I kid you?"

Sam sighed and stood up.

--

The scenery was less colorful in this direction, but somehow every bit as brilliant. As Sam continued, the forest around him seemed to die. The trees had lost all their leaves and the bark seemed gray. The temperature dropped and Sam wrapped his coat more tightly around him.

"Sam!"

He heard his brother's voice and turned toward it. "Dean!"

"Sammy, over here!"

"Where are you?"

"I'm here, Sammy!" This time the voice came from behind him and Sam turned again. "Sammy!"

Sam moved quickly toward his brother's voice. "Dean! Dean, where are you?"

"Sammy!"

A moment later, Sam found himself in a small clearing. There was a diminutive grey creature rolling on the ground, laughing. At first Sam couldn't tell what it was, but when he got a better look at the pointed ears that framed the ugly face, he knew it was a goblin.

"Dean!" he called, ignoring the thing.

A moment later Sam heard his brother's voice coming from the goblin and he knew he had been the butt of its joke.

"I suppose this isn't the right way out of here, either?" Sam asked, irritated.

"Could be, but maybe not," the goblin said and he sat cross-legged on the dirt.

"So, what do you know about Dean?"

"Who's Dean?"

"Don't mess with me, goblin. I'm not in the mood. You were using my brother's voice; you called me Sammy. Only he can call me Sammy."

"Eh, whatever. Dean isn't here."

"And I should believe you why?"

The goblin shrugged its bony shoulders. "What choice do you have?"

"Look, I just want to get out of here. I want to find Dean and go back to where I belong."

"Yeah, yeah. So how'd you end up coming this way?"

"Harvey."

"That's one funny fish. You might be able to get to where you want to be by going this way, but it's probably not the best choice."

"Why's that?"

"There are giants not too far away."

"Giants. Of course." Sam rubbed his throbbing forehead. "Evil giants, I suppose."

"I've never met one that wasn't at least a little testy."

"I think I'll just take my chances."

"Go for it."

Sam looked at the goblin suspiciously. "Can I get out this way, or not?"

"Depends on where you want to go."

"I want to get back to my brother, damnit!"

"Maybe you should to back to Harvey."

"Stupid fish has sent me in all the wrong directions. Why should I trust him?"

The goblin looked at Sam, uncharacteristically serious for a creature known for his mischievousness. "To find what you seek, you must look within."

Sam looked at the goblin. "The fairy told me almost the same thing."

"Rosalie? She's a good kid." The goblin looked off in the distance as a loud crash reverberated through the trees. "Uh-oh! Giants! Gotta go!"

Sam thought about it for a moment, then headed back the pond.

--

"Hey, Sam! I missed you!" Harvey floated lazily as Sam paced at the pond's edge.

"Stop messing with me, fish. Tell me how to get out of here."

"What makes you think I even know? I'm in a _pond_ for Pete's sake!"

Sam sat down on a rock. "Please. I just want to find my brother. I think I'm stuck in some kind of delusion and I'm afraid that we're both hurt. I need to help him."

Harvey looked at him. "You callin' me a delusion?"

"I don't know," Sam said miserably. "My head hurts, I feel sick and I just want to get out of here."

"Fine. Follow me."

Harvey dove below the surface of the water and Sam reluctantly walked into the pond. It wasn't very deep, hitting him at his waist. He could see Harvey circling, seemingly gesturing for Sam to follow. He sighed, took a deep breath and felt stupid as he swam toward the talking fish.

Harvey led him through a complex rock structure he'd not been able to see from the surface and on the other side was a lavishly furnished room. Sam could tell he was still underwater, but he found he could breathe with no problem. With a fin, Harvey pointed to what looked like a large golden bench and Sam heard him say to sit down.

He did as he was told. Maybe this wasn't due to something physical; maybe it was the Trickster. Could that be it? A moment later the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen swam toward him. She looked a little like Jessica, but also like his mother. Her smile was kind and her eyes a brighter shade of green than should be possible. When she got closer, it didn't even surprise Sam that she was a mermaid.

"Hello, Sam." Her voice was soft and filled Sam with warmth.

"Can you help me?" he asked.

"Oh, Sam. You should know by now that you and your brother have to help yourselves. Instead of wasting time talking to a fish, you should have been trusting your instincts. You know how to find your brother."

Sam looked at her. "I don't understand."

"Well, you could try clicking your heels together three times," the mermaid smiled.

"Hey, if I thought that would work…."

"Sam, you know how to find your brother. Just open your eyes."

"What?" Sam asked, surprised.

"Just open your eyes."

--

"Just open your eyes, Sammy. Come on."

Sam heard his brother's voice, but didn't believe it was really him.

"Sammy, come on, man."

Sam felt water falling onto his face, which made no sense since he'd been underwater….Which made no sense in itself. "Dean?"

"Hey, you're almost back. Open your eyes, man."

Sam reached out and his hand landed on the collar of Dean's familiar leather jacket. He held onto it tightly, afraid if he let it go that Dean would disappear.

He slowly became aware of his surroundings; he felt something wet and hard under his back, but his head rested on something softer. He was also very cold and his teeth began to chatter. After a few moments, Sam opened his eyes. He saw the motel's bright neon sign casting odd rainbows over the slick parking lot. The Impala wasn't far away.

"What happened?" Sam asked. He realized his head was in Dean's lap.

"You came out to get a soda from the machine; you must have slipped on the ice. You have quite a bump on your head."

"I was right," Sam said to himself. "I told that fish it was a head injury."

"You told that fish? Sammy, dude, what the hell?"

Sam heard the smile in his brother's voice, but he couldn't focus on his face.

"Let's get you inside," Dean said as he carefully maneuvered his way to his feet. "It's snowing."

--

Sam had a headache the next morning, but the night had passed without further incident. He knew Dean had stayed up most of the night keeping an eye on him, so he'd tried to let him sleep in. Being Dean, though, he was awake and ready for breakfast at the same time Sam was.

"Hey, Sam?" Dean asked as they sat in the diner across the street from the motel.

Sam looked at him.

"When you came to last night, you said you told that fish you had a head injury. What the hell were you dreaming, man?"

Sam shrugged; he had no idea what Dean was talking about. "I don't remember."

Dean smiled, but moved onto another topic of conversation. Movement caught Sam's eye and he looked to see a waitress coming toward him. She had the most interesting shade of green eyes he'd ever seen. There was something familiar about her, but Sam knew they'd never been to this town before.

They ordered coffee and she set down two menus before walking off, a bright smile on her face.

Sam wasn't very hungry and when the waitress came back, he ordered a small meal. Dean didn't know the meaning of small when it came to food, but it didn't take him much longer to finish his meal than it did Sam. After paying and making a stop in the men's room, they headed out to the parking lot.

Sam felt a cool breeze blow by from behind as he stood in the doorway and he turned to see if a fan had been turned on. He didn't see one, shrugged it off and followed his brother.

"Look inside yourself."

The words were soft, said in a whisper. Sam looked around again, but saw no one.

"You can save your brother, Sam."

"Sam," he heard Dean call. "Come on, dude."

Somewhat befuddled, Sam looked toward his brother. He was standing next to the Impala; the door was open and he was about to climb behind the wheel. Sam saw the concerned look on Dean's face and moved forward. He slid into the passenger seat and Dean looked at him.

"You sure you're okay? Maybe we should get you checked out before hitting the road."

Sam shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Let's just go."

Dean seemed uncertain at first, but after a moment he started the engine and backed out of the parking spot. Sam looked back over his shoulder as Dean maneuvered onto the street. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but still he felt strange.

Within a few minutes of being on the highway, Sam was feeling better. He was with his brother, they were on the way to a new job and there was classic rock music playing in the background. He settled back against the seat and returned the small smile Dean gave him.

Maybe he could save Dean, like the voice had said to him. Or, maybe the voice was just something leftover from hitting his head on the cement. Either way, he had no intention of stopping - he'd keep looking for a way to get Dean out of the deal and if he had to tap into the powers….

Sam glanced at Dean, glad his brother couldn't read minds.

_The End_


End file.
